"Platinum Gas Saver" Ads Push Debunked Product

The Arizona Republic has a noticeable ad on its page A5 today for bogus fuel-saving devices. The ridiculous products, known as "platinum gas savers," have been debunked as worthless wastes of money by independent testers. The ads and the publications that print them have received criticism when run in other cities. ...

By Ray Stern

June 22, 2009

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The Arizona Republic has a noticeable ad on its page A5 today for bogus fuel-saving devices.

The ridiculous products, known as "platinum gas savers," have been debunked as worthless wastes of money by independent testers. The ads and the publications that print them have received criticism when run in other cities.

Have we tested these devices ourselves? No. But you'd have to be sniffing gas vapors to think a $119 device will save you 22 percent in fuel costs.

We found a free ad posted on one of New Times' sister publications for a "gas saver," with a Valley phone number. "Frank," who answered the phone, says he's not an official distributor, but merely has a few new devices for sale.

"I have this in my Suburban, and I haven't gassed up for a month," Frank says.

Um, goodbye Frank.

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Ray Stern is the former news editor of Phoenix New Times. He worked as a newspaper reporter in Arizona for more than two decades. He's won numerous awards for his reporting, including the Arizona Press Club's Don Bolles Award for Investigative Journalism.